Israel's Oldest Newspaper Endorses Obama

Israel’s oldest newspaper, and one of the country’s most liberal media voices, has weighed in on the U.S. presidential election, throwing its support to President Barack Obama in the final days of the election.

“Tens of millions of Americans will go to the polls on Tuesday to vote for a president and vice president,” Haaretz said on Friday. “It will be an important day for American democracy. This will be the Americans' day, but the outcome of the elections will impact the entire world.”

The newspaper said that GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney has made President Obama’s policy toward Israel a “hot-button issue” in the campaign.

“The outcome of the elections will be determined by the voters' decision as to which of the two candidates is good for America,” the paper said. “But if any of them are vacillating in their vote over whether Obama has been a good president for Israel, the answer is yes.”

Haaretz said that Obama built on then President George W. Bush’s progress in toppling Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq and “deterring, albeit for a limited period” Iran’s progress toward attaining nuclear weapons.

“Obama continued this two-way track vis-a-vis Iran and the issue of Palestinian statehood,” according to the newspaper. “Under his pressure, Israel suspended for the first time — for a while — construction in the settlements. Relations between the two countries' armed forces have never been so close. Obama's challenge in his second term, if he wins the elections, is to lead the region to a stable arrangement of peace and security.”

Israel’s oldest newspaper, and one of the country’s most liberal media voices, has weighed in on the U.S. presidential election, throwing its support to President Barack Obama in the final days of the election.